Great news: No danger of a new recession, says Obama

posted at 7:25 pm on August 17, 2011 by Allahpundit

“I don’t think we’re in danger of another recession, but we are in danger of not having a recovery that’s fast enough to deal with a genuine unemployment crisis for a whole lot of folks out there,” Mr. Obama told CBS News Senior Business Correspondent Anthony Mason. “And that’s why we need to be doing more.”…

“What is absolutely true is confidence matters,” Mr. Obama replied. “We should not have had any kind of brinksmanship around the debt ceiling.”

“I wish [House Speaker John Boehner] had taken me up on a grand bargain to deal with our long term debt and deficit,” he said. “We still have the opportunity to fix that. It’s not too late. I will be putting forward a plan that will be similar to the plan I put forward to the speaker.”

Translation: If we do end up in a double dip, it’ll be your fault. Just like everything else.

For the record, as of two weeks ago, none other than Larry Summers thought the risk of a new recession was as high as one in three. Even so, I’m reluctant to beat The One up for this for the simple reason that … there’s really nothing else he can say. If he acknowledges there’s a good chance that GDP might contract and then it happens, he’s open to the charge that he talked the economy down by freaking people out with despair from the bully pulpit. Even if it doesn’t happen, admitting that it might would be a devastating concession about his own impotence in managing a recovery. And given today’s Gallup polling, that’s the last thing he can afford. Politically speaking, all he can do is put on a brave face and assure us that the gloomy days of negative GDP are over and the glory days of 0.5 percent growth are here to stay. And if they aren’t? Hey — blame John Boehner for refusing to agree to his “grand bargain,” even though, er, Boehner actually did agree.

Meanwhile, the bus tour proceeds apace. Here’s a look-in from Jake Tapper at the sort of tough questions Obama’s getting on the road:

Young man tells POTUS it’s “time for the wealthy to pay their fair share” — POTUS calls him “an extremely well informed young man”

O also said, “We’ve got to be doing every single thing we can every minute of every day” to help the American people. But first — vacation!

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That guy just has no shame at all. Either that, or he’s just loony at this point.

“What is absolutely true is confidence matters,” Mr. Obama replied. “We should not have had any kind of brinksmanship around the debt ceiling.”

“Confidence matters“??? Is that why he’s spent the last three years scaring the crap out of business leaders and entrepreneurs? No “brinkmanship“??? Are we forgetting exactly who it was who threatened to veto any deal without tax hikes? Or who pulled the football out from under Boehner at the last minute?

This guy is starting to sound like Ten-Second Tom from 50 First Dates, like his short-term memory is shot. The part that’s really impressive… is that there’s apparently NO ONE among his handlers who can remember what they ate for breakfast on any given morning.